Garage Brewing Co. & Pizzeria

About halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, Lou Kashmere owns a strip center in Temecula, Calif., that is home to a high-volume Shell station. The strip center had a space that once housed an old tire shop.

Wanting to use the space more creatively, Kashmere decided to convert the garage into a brewery. And what goes better with beer than pizza?

Tapping two hot trends, Kashmere — along with his wife and children — created the Garage Brewing Co. & Pizzeria, a brewhouse producing about 310 gallons at a time, as well as made-from-scratch pizzas in a fast-casual setting.

Scheduled to open Oct. 15, Garage Brewing will have a beer-tasting room featuring 28 beers on tap, including the eight house brews. In the dining room, guests can build their own pizzas, which are baked to order in a 900-degree Wood Stone oven.

“People love pizza. People love beer,” said Kashmere. “If I can marry the two together and get a ‘wow,’ it’ll be successful.”

Garage Brewing’s 12-inch pizzas range from $5 for a simple cheese pie to $8 for a custom-built pie with unlimited toppings. Signature pizzas are typically around $6.50.

An added bonus: The Shell station sells growlers of the concept’s beer. Empty growlers are taken back and recycled.

“So you can stop in and get gas, pick up a half-gallon of beer and a pizza,” Kashmere said.

Though it began as a concept to fit the space, Kashmere is working on a second location, which the family hopes to open next year.

Given the popularity of both craft beers and fast-casual pizza, there is room to grow the brand, especially in smaller-town markets like Temecula, he said. “I don’t see chains like Blaze coming to Temecula anytime soon.”